The Old Porch Gallery
Tamela Burgess has spent her entire life being inspired by the Big Muddy
Valley. The Valley in which she was born and raised is the same place she
and her husband, Michael, have ranched and raised their family for the
past 25 years.
The wildlife, scenery, history and ranching lifestyle have been the
subject for all of this self-taught artists' artwork in acrylic,
watercolor, pencil and clay sculpture. She is a versatile artist who works
mainly on canvas, but has also painted on metal, bone, wood, sandstone and
feathers.
Tamela took it upon herself to build her own gallery in the summer of
1994. Husband Michael had given her the old sun porch off the original
ranch house that was built in 1916. She then closed in the building,
trenched in the power doing most of the work herself. The Old Porch
Gallery celebrated it’s grand opening on November 27, 1994. Then in the
fall of 1998, Michael again gave her a small building, so she could build
onto the existing building. Again Tamela did the work herself and the new
enlarged gallery was opened to the public on June 27, 1999.
Visitors to the gallery can enjoy artwork, and hearing about the
history of the area amongst the activities of a modern ranch.
Most recently, Tamela has been inspired to document some of the colorful history of the Big Muddy Valley including the Outlaws that evaded the American posses' with help of some of the local ranchers.
Click here for more information on Tamela's book The Big Muddy Badlands Past to Present
Tiffany Burgess Cameron 2006